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Oh and speaking of Annie Wu, she's the artist on issue #4 of the all-nu Archie comics, (Veronica Fish takes over on issues #5-6) and in issue #4 of the Mark Waid reboot we finally learn about #LipstickIncident, the secret that has been haunting the halls of Riverdale High and crimping Archie's dating style.

She was a spy working for the Russian government who defected and became one of the most important S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to ever be a part of the program — now she has support from one of the strongest creative teams in modern comics. This morning via Entertainment Weekly Marvel announced the next project for interior artist Chris […]

Here’s where I finally release what’s left of our SDCC audio content…as a follow-up to last week’s set of DC and Marvel Television interviews, here are our chats on the animated side of things including discussions with Dan Harmon, Justin Roiland, Bruce Timm, Andrea Romano, Ike Barinholtz, Seth Meyers, and more! Additionally, here are the audio […]

The first issue of Archie rang triumphant in the comic book space with the creative team of Fiona Staples and Mark Waid delivering something akin to an earnest take on a beloved American icon. Archie Andrews is everything but traditional himself nowadays that he’s clean cut and and an earnest comic book lead. There’s no grit on […]

Archie #1 (art by Fiona Staples)

By Harper W. Harris

Among his lauded superhero comics, Mark Waid is also writing the highly publicized Archie #1, which relaunches the flagship title of the publisher, featuring art by the 2015 best penciller Eisner winner Fiona Staples. I had a chance to speak with him in between signings and panels to get his take on everyone’s favorite comics love triangle.

Harper W. Harris: What is your history with Archie? Have you been a fan of the characters for a long time, and how did you get involved?

Mark Waid: I mean, like everybody, I read Archie comics growing up. But I worked on staff for a brief time as an editor in the early ‘90s, and at that point did a deep dive on the character for the first time, went through the library and read all that stuff, and that made me an aficionado for life. Just looking at the the beauty and the variety and the bounce of the artwork in the ‘40s and ‘50s, and watching the character dynamics, and realizing that these characters are much deeper than we give them credit for. There’s much more to them than we tend to see. So when they called me a few months ago and asked me if I wanted to jump in on this, my first instinct was, you know, I’m a 53 year old man, why are you asking me about 16 year old teenagers. But then I thought about it, and you know what, I’m willing to step up to the plate and take a swing at that because I love these characters and I’m very protective of them. Whenever I take on something like Daredevil or Superman or Archie or something, I’m very protective of characters who have existed since before I was born, because I think that there’s clearly something about them that makes them perennial, vital characters, that makes people still want to tell stories about them after all these years. And that fascinates me, like what is it about those characters? Drilling down and then trying to figure out what that nugget is that makes those characters something where, as opposed to like Betty Boop or Woody Woodpecker or Andy Panda, that are nostalgic, nobody’s telling stories about them. So that’s what fascinates me. So with the Archie characters, when they gave me that opportunity, I thought, okay, clearly my high school experience is different from your high school experience is different from my 15 year old stepdaughter’s experience, but there are certain things about being a teenager that, I swear to god, are universal. The idea that you don’t know who you are yet and you’re trying to figure out your identity. Or you remember what it’s like to be flustered and embarrassed in front of the opposite sex. That feeling that everything you do is the end of the world and every bad thing that happens feels like its going to last forever. Those are the things that are universal to every teenager that ever lived, so those are the things you concentrate on. You don’t concentrate on Snapchat and Instagram and Twitter and hashtags and stuff like that, you don’t cram that into the story; that’s window dressing. The stuff that makes it timeless is the emotions.

HH: One of the interesting things about this new Archie book is that you are tackling the “origin” of Archie. You usually think of an origin in comics as when somebody got their superpowers or stopped their first crime or whatever–how did you go figuring out where the starting point should be for the character?

MW: I really started thinking about the Betty/Veronica/Archie dynamic, because the things is, and this is going back to the original DNA of the strip: the whole idea of will Archie choose Betty or Veronica is actually a fairly recent construct, that’s more of an ‘80s or ’90s thing. While it served the comics well at the time and it’s certainly one of the questions that people still ask, you know, will he choose Betty or Veronica, it kind of makes the girls like property to be owned. It makes them feel like they’re competing–it’s weird too that they’re supposed to be best friends and yet they’re dating the same boy all the time. So I stepped back for a minute and I thought, let’s go back to the original DNA of the strip which is that Betty is the tomboy underdog who is attracted to Archie but can’t get his attention because of glamorous Veronica and Archie being a dumbass about that. That just made more sense to me. With that in mind, the other thing that sort of makes it feel like an origin is that I needed it to be a more diverse cast, I desperately needed it to be a more diverse cast. The five main Archie characters–Reggie, Jughead, Archie, Betty, and Veronica–are traditionally white characters, white Cis characters. I needed a little more variety. Luckily, Archie has a very deep bench in the last ten years of very diverse supporting characters in the Archie Universe. So the first instinct was, let’s leave Veronica off the table for a little while, let’s leave Reggie off the table for a little while, let’s make room for Raj and Kevin and some of the other characters who are not your typical whitebread Archie characters. So I think that also sort of helps it feel like an origin in that you’re still sort of introducing some of these characters.

HH: You talked in a panel earlier today that your approach to Betty is that she’s in a sort of awkward stage where she’s not one of the boys anymore. Do you plan on exploring a lot of the characters in that way and giving them a point of view as opposed to the book just being about Archie?

Archie #2 (on sale 8/19)

MW: Oh yeah. Here’s the thing: Archie is the hub of the wheel, he’s the guy that has to be, in a way, the most unremarkable character in the book, because everyone else is sort of “Archie but he’s a foodie,” or “Archie but she’s a tomboy” or “Archie but she’s glamorous.” Everybody is a variation on the typical American teenager, so he has to be at the center. But the problem with that, of course, is that the typical American teenager is not a terribly glamorous or interesting in and of itself, and I’m not sure what that means in the 21st century either. So what I’m doing is using Archie as the lens to look at all those other characters. Issue two deals more with Jughead and why he’s an iconoclast and why he wears a hat and why he is the way he is. Issue three deals a lot more with Veronica–she could just be a stuck up rich bitch, but first of all we hate her that way and secondly that’s not very interesting. Instead, we’re treating her more like it’s Kim Kardashian coming to your high school. She doesn’t think she’s a bad person, and most of the time she’s not a bad person. It’s still that she doesn’t really connect well with the little people. That’s the trick, really drilling down on them and making them interesting and making them all relatable. Nobody invents a time machine, nobody has such a wacky adventure that it could never really happen to a teenager. We push the envelope a little bit, but by and large I want to keep those characters pretty well grounded.

HH: One of the other interesting things about starting this new series is that in the past, Archie stories have had little to no continuity from issue to issue. Is your approach more to tell the stories as arcs, one long story, or in short one-off stories?

Mark Waid at SDCC ’15

MW: It’s sort of in the arc format, but every issue still stands on its own. Every issue has a beginning, middle, and end, and then the soap opera is what brings you back from issue to issue. In terms of continuity, look, if the other artists and writers doing the Archie stuff want to play off what I’m doing, that’s awesome. If Chip Zdarsky instead wants to do Jughead in space, that’s fine too, that’s going to be awesome. The Archie stuff really does adapt itself really well to whether it’s continuity or not continuity. All the stuff in the ‘60s–there’s this great book that just came out called 12 Cent Archie by Bart Beaty. It’s an examination of Archie comics in the 1960s, and how continuity didn’t mean anything and that was its strength. Like in one issue Betty can be a master chef, and in the very next issue Betty can burn everything down in the kitchen. It didn’t matter because it served the plot. Archie can be a football hero in one issue and in the next issue be a scrub, it didn’t matter because it’s funny and that’s the plot. So there’s a part of me that likes doing the arch stuff where there’s a continuity to it, but I have no problem at all if the other guys want to run off in a different direction. I mean, Chip Zdarsky and Adam Hughes, I just want to see them do their thing.

HH: Alright, I’ll let you go on an easy one: Team Betty or Team Veronica?

MW: Hmmm…Team Betty, but I’m beginning to soften on Veronica a bit as we get into that very shellacked head of hers.

Archie #1 is on shelves now, with the second issue due out on 8/19!

Riverdale TV Series on CW (Illustration by Veronica Fish)

Archie Comics has exploded onto the mainstage of the comics world in the last few years, just as many thought they were a relic of the golden age. Series like Life With Archie and the enormously popular Afterlife with Archie, along with the introduction of the openly gay character Kevin Keller a few years prior, introduced these characters to a new generation in a surprisingly mature and modern way. At Comic Con today in a packed room full of fans, we got a glimpse at what is coming up for the progressive company and it’s growing band of creators.

Perhaps the biggest news to come out of the panel is the announcement that the long talked about Riverdale TV series will not be on Fox, but will premiere on CW. This came out of working through Greg Berlanti, who will be producing the show. This begs the question about the tone of the show, which previously sounded a bit like Twin Peaks in its adult and surreal nature, but now is being compared more to Glee. “It has a lot of music in it,” said Robert Aguirre-Sacasa, Archie’s Chief Creative Officer. They also mentioned that Josie and the Pussycats will play a big role, as well as Kevin Keller. Veronica Fish did some excellent promo art for the show, and will hopefully be working on a high profile comic soon, the publishers teased.

Archie #1 by Mark Waid and Fiona Staples

Four of the main creators involved in the New Riverdale group of books were onstage in Mark Waid (Archie), Chip Zdarsky (Jughead), Dan Parent (Kevin Keller) and Adam Hughes (Betty and Veronica). Waid said of the whole crew, “No one’s setting an iron-clad continuity that we have to fall into, we’re just enjoying what we’re all doing,” and that they are all sort of riffing on each other to create this new Archie universe. The first issue has been getting good reviews all around, and Waid teased that although Veronica shows up a little in issue two, but will be “like a wrecking ball” in issue three. He also noted that he felt like it was important to put Betty in that awkward phase that many girls go through when they transition from being “one of the boys” to being looked at differently by the men in her life–Fiona Staples, who is drawing the book, provided a lot of input on that part of the story.

Jughead #1 by Chip Zdarsky and Erica Henderson

Zdarsky talked about how he got involved with the forthcoming Jughead book that he is writing, saying he asked to do a variant for Archie #1 and then really wanted to get involved with New Riverdale: “Do you need someone to staple the comics?” he jokingly asked. Apparently, he had done an art project in school that involved building a 3D Archie panel around his head, with himself playing the role of Jughead, so his fandom of the character is nothing new. Zdarsky’s take on the iconic burger-eater is that “he’s a bit like me: he’s smarter than everyone in the room, but doesn’t feel like he has to show it.” Jon Goldwater, CEO and Publisher of Archie Comics, said that the book, which comes out on October 8th, is “really, really funny.” The book sounds like it will be the most irreverent of the group, with Jughead using his daydreaming imagination to figure things out, which involves the Superteens and more fantastical elements.

Hughes’ take on Betty and Veronica is the least developed so far, as he has only just begun to work on it. “Betty and Veronica are two characters I never thought I’d be allowed to work on,” Hughes said. The book will aim to be “a laugh riot,” and Hughes says he’s thrilled to be able to write and draw these iconic characters. Dan Parent showed some early pages from the new Life with Kevin Keller series as well, revealing that he will be living on his own and a little older now, which Parent notes means “the sky’s the limit” for the character.

Vampironica Cover by Francesco Francavilla

Aguirre-Sacasa loosely announced a new title in the horror line that Francesco Francavilla will in some way be a part of that “may or may not” be called Vampironica. which included teasing a beautiful cover by Francavilla featuring a Vampirella-looking Veronica in a graveyard within a silhouette of Jughead. As if that wasn’t exciting enough for Archie Horror fans, the audience was treated to a preview of Afterlife with Archie #9, which focuses on Reggie and the guilt he feels for his part in causing the zombie apocalypse. For at least one page of the issue, Francavilla and Aguirre-Sacasa take a Goofus and Galant approach in an Archie and Reggie sequence. There were strong hints that something bad will happen to Reggie when the issue releases in a month or so.

Coming up for the Afterlife with Archie series in #10-12 involve the whole Riverdale gang stumbling onto a farm that seems untouched by the apocalypse. Unfortunately, it may not be the paradise it seems as the gang starts to notice that no one here is over 18–and Betty’s 18th birthday is coming up soon. Said by Aguirre-Sacasa of working with Francavilla: “It’s an auteur book, and the auteur is Francesco.”

Archie vs. Sharknado One-Shot Variant Cover by Francesco Francavilla

In other news for the horror line, Aguirre-Sacasa promises that issue #4 of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is “the creepiest book we’ve ever done.” That issue involves the Riverdale gang arriving in Greendale to assist in the search for Sabrina’s missing boyfriend, Harvey. This first arc ends with issue five, while six will be a one-shot story that explores Salem the cat’s medieval origins, and seven starting the Witch War arc in which the witches of Greendale and Riverdale square off.

In the longstanding tradition of ridiculous crossovers, the publishers talked a bit about the newest to join the ranks in Archie vs. Sharknado, which comes out in time for Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No. Anthony C. Ferrante, director of all three Sharknado movies, wrote the one-shot comic, and talked about how fun it was to put together. “I fell in love with some of the characters, so I couldn’t kill them off!” he noted.

When Marvel takes news to big outlets like The Wall Street Journal, they usually have something sizable to announce, a new artist for the main Avengers title after Secret Wars, shipping schedule, an Alex Ross cover debut, and roster confirmation are little details that add up to news.

The Free Comic Book Day Avengers issue already revealed the roster of the team after the Secret Wars eight months later event. Marvel even gave us what looks like a (fairly) stable creative team in Mark Waid and Mahmud Asrar. But today, they revealed that artist Adam Kubert will be switching storylines with Asrar. Also, they shared this Alex Ross cover: which is kind of insane. In addition, this comic book will be shipping more than an issue every month. The Avengers will first come together to fight someone that Marvel Studios film watchers and Nova fans will be familiar with: Warbringer, a Chitauri alien warlord. This new set of Avengers will be low on money, (I guess the whole Superior Iron Man thing burned some bridges?)

“They’re poor, and they have to manage their assets,” said Marvel Executive Editor and SVP of Publishing Tom Brevoort. “Another new wrinkle: Half the team goes to school. They’ve got hours of operation, and if they get stuck in Zimbabwe, somebody’s going to have to write the absentee slips.”

Marvel isn’t looking that bad when comparing their Avengers to DC’s Justice League strictly in terms of diversity. The Vision is a robot. The team has not one, but two women. It’s great to see three younger kids joining the Avengers ranks as well — all three are powerful and with the support of Vision and Tony Stark as Iron Man, they have nothing to worry about. How long with the new Thor be around? Her character is very ill and may have precious little time left to serve as an Avenger. Hopefully Waid will naturally integrate Sam Wilson into the Captain America mantle in a way that doesn’t seem forced, AXIS did some damage to his new role in the Marvel Universe. As ComicsAlliance pointed out as well, this roster is slim, a far cry to the massive Jonathan Hickman-penned multi-character Avengers world concept. As interesting as that story was, it’s time to take the franchise in a new direction, and Marvel seems to be doing just that with the new effort.

A couple years ago, Chris Samnee was in the unenviable position of having to replace artists Paolo Rivera & Marcos Martin on Marvel’s Daredevil, as regular series artist. Now, 40, or so issues later, that memorable run on Daredevil(which is still going) will now be remembered by most folks as the “classic Samnee/Waid Daredevil run” thanks to Samnee stepping up to the plate artistically! Chris’ stunning visuals match Waid’s character driven scripts perfectly! Studying the great comics artists he grew up with in the 1980’s, and working hard at his craft since he was kid(he got his first professional comics credit when he was 15!), Samnee has become one of the most respected artists working in comics, today.

Chris Samnee won an Eisner Award for Best Penciller/Inker for his work on the The Rocketeer: Cargo of Doom, and a Harvey Award for Most Promising Newcomer for 2011’s Capote in Kansas, published by ONI Press.

You can follow the steady stream of updated Chris Samnee art on his website here.

For more comics related art, you can follow me on my website comicstavern.com - Andy Yates

Cover by Dean Haspiel

The Fox #1

Story, Line Art: Dean Haspiel

Script: Mark Waid

Color Art: Allen Passalaqua

Letters: John Workman

Cover Art: Dean Haspiel, Chris Samnee, Matt Wilson, David Mack, Ulises Farinas, Ryan Hill, Thomas Pitilli

Publisher: Archie/Dark Circle Comics

By Matthew Jent

“You don’t have to be a hero anymore.”

The Fox, with story & line art by Dean Haspiel, script by Mark Waid, and colors by Allen Passalaqua, opens in media res with our titular hero tied up, lamenting his bad luck, and wishing for an ibuprofin. It’s a Spider-Man-like How did I get into this mess? inner monologue that introduces a delightfully self-deprecating superhero who’s already in over his head. Right away the art by Haspiel and Passalaqua looks expansive, bright, and weird. The Fox has a black eye, he’s already unmasked and beaten on page one, his legs are kicked out away from the beam, like he’s falling even though he’s tied up.

Which, it turns out, he is. This is the story of the Fox falling into a mystery, into an adventure, and into trouble, in spite of his intentions to just do right by his family.

With a story by Dean Haspiel (indie comics mainstay, a collaborator of Harvey Pekar, and an Emmy winner for title design on HBO’s Bored to Death) and a script by Mark Waid (superhero guru, author of the most-fun Daredevil run in years, and co-founder of digital comics site Thrillbent), The Fox is a first issue that presents a lived-in, authentic world. A superhero universe we’re peering into for the first time even though it’s existed for a long time. Which is kind of true — The Fox is part of Archie’s new Dark Circle imprint, a shared-universe reboot of heroes who used to be Impact characters, who also used to be Red Circle characters, some of whom used to be Blue Ribbon, Archie Adventure, and Mighty Comics characters.

These heroes have been around. The Fox dates back to 1940, two years after Superman’s first appearance. But Haspiel & Waid allow the Fox to grow up a little. This Fox — the one tied up on page one — is Paul Patton, Jr., a photojournalist who became a superhero to attract danger and further his career. A brief, two-panel memory implies that the previous Fox may have been Paul’s own father, something he didn’t realize as a kid. Now Paul has his own grown-up son, and he wants to put his superhero days behind him — but he hasn’t quite stopped wearing his costume under his street clothes, yet.

Haspiel’s interpretation of the Fox’s costume is a cross between Batman and Spidey. He’s dressed all in black, but his fox ears can go a little floppy and the mask’s white eyes go wide with surprise. When we get a glimpse of the supervillains the Fox — or a Fox — might run against in later issues, the cast starts to look a little like something from the Venture Bros. But while Venture is a parody of super-science-action-heroics, The Fox manages a nostalgic throwback art style without feeling dated or ironic. The emotional reactions are real (though I hope — and I trust Haspiel & Waid will provide — more from Paul’s wife Mae than the blandly supportive wife/mother role she plays in this issue) even in the face of unreal, high stakes, super-villainy.

John Workman, a solid, solid pro whose work you can read more about in this CBR piece from 2007, glues this issue together with lettering that guides the eye and reinforces the rhythm of Waid’s language. Shrinking dialogue as Paul zones out of his son’s monologue about changing technology, bolded words that emphasize cadence without being distracting, and slightly out-of-sync letters when Paul’s son Shinji is taken by surprise — small but artful touches that showcase the subtle craftsman Workman has been for decades.

The Fox makes you wonder what a Spider-Man book would have looked like if Peter Parker had been allowed to grow up, stay married, and have kids. The Fox is a chance to prove wrong the folks who say the superhero status quo has to stay frozen for decades, that it’s better to poison the well than to move forward. The Fox is aware of the past 75+ years of superhero comics, superhero gimmicks, and superhero clichés. But it’s not trying recreate them or preserve them in amber.  The Fox puts the mask on one more time and and strives to make some new memories.

Archie’s The Fox: Freak Magnet mini-series is being reborn as an ongoing comic moving the book from the previous Red Circle line into the Dark Circle. Previous collaborators Dean Haspiel and Mark Waid are back to chronicle the adventures of Paul Patton Jr. as The Fox in the Fox Hunt storyline. CBR posted the first preview and solicit for the brand new series. We showed off cover artwork and a few other Dark Circle previews here, but with the first issue only a few weeks away this preview is our gift to you.

The Fox follows Patton Jr.’s continuing as a golden age hero. In fact, it’s a little bit strange to even refer to the character as a hero, his character draws out stories to snap them up as a photojournalist for his day job. If the previous storyline is to believed, The Fox is a magnet for sheer weirdness, spawning diamond powered handguns. The back-and-forth introduced into the opening dialogue from Patton introduces the humanity missing in the last storyline by humanizing the Patton Jr. as someone who needs pills on a crappy day. Waid and Haspiel seem to have something special on their hands with this new window into the freak magnet.

Story: Dean Haspiel and Mark Waid

Art: Dean Haspiel

Colors: Allen Passalaqua

Cover: Dean Haspiel

Letters: John Workman

32-page, full color comic

$3.99 U.S.

NEW ONGOING SERIES FROM DARK CIRCLE!

THE FOX is BACK! Emmy Award winning writer/artist Dean Haspiel (Billy Dogma, HBO’s Bored to Death) is once again united with Eisner award-winning writer Mark Waid (Daredevil, Thrillbent) for FOX HUNT: Part One “The Situation”: When a billionaire philanthropist prepares Paul Patton Jr’s home town for demolition, our hero is sent on assignment to photograph the event. But what strange force lurks in the shadows, and why will it take Paul’s alter-ego, THE FOX, to stop it? The answer is the beginning of a deadly FOX HUNT and you won’t believe what happens next! Don’t miss the debut issue from the critically-acclaimed team that brought you THE FOX: FREAK MAGNET, featuring FOUR all-new variant covers! With art from Dean Haspiel, David Mack, Thomas Pitilli, Ulises Farinas and Chris Samnee!

Dynamite has had a lot of news this week in the busy Toy Fair/ComicsPRo period, including an exciting crossover event the return of two iconic heroes, and a new merchandise line. Here’s a digest version:

• Mark Waid is writing Justice, Inc.: The Avenger with artist Ronilson Freire. The series debuts in June and expands on the Justice, Inc., universe and vigilante industrialist Richard Henry Benson. variant covers include Alex Ross (Kingdom Come), Walter Simonson (The Mighty Thor), Francesco Francavilla (Afterlife with Archie), Marc Laming (All-New Invaders), and Barry Kitson (The Amazing Spider-Man).

In Justice, Inc.: The Avenger #1, Waid and Freire continue the adventures of Richard Henry Benson, a victim of a criminal attack that left his facial features forever deadened, gray in color and incapable of showing genuine emotion. And yet, the harsh stroke of fate gave him the ability to mold his face to match the appearance of anyone… a skill he could employ as the ultimate master of disguise. Driven to mete out retribution against those who would prey on the innocent, The Avenger finds himself on a collision course with a villain even more secretive, brutal, and unrelenting than himself: an Invisible Man.

Mark Waid’s participation in the Avenger launch fulfills a longtime writing goal; he says, “Moreso than The Shadow, moreso than Doc Savage, the Avenger has always, always been my favorite pulp hero, and I’ve been aching to write this story since I was eleven years old. What a blast! Having the opportunity to dive into the psyche of a crimefighter as unique as Benson has been a lifelong dream — I’ve been thinking about what his life and mind would be like ever since I read my first Avenger paperback back in the day. How does a man live his life when he has nothing to live for but justice? How does he navigate in a world of life and love and joy when his own features are frozen and stiff like putty, mirroring his cold, dead insides? There’s so much here to unpack.”

• Will Eisner’s The Spirit is coming back in a series written by Matt Wagner and covers by Alex Ross, Eric Powell, and Wagner. DEny Colt, a masked everyman crimefighter, was the center of an iconic series by Eisner and has been brought back most recently at DC.

“I discovered The Spirit via the black-and-white, magazine-sized reprints of the mid-70s. It was the first time that I truly perceived sequential narrative as a legitimate art form, of the immense creative power of a comic-artist in his prime,” says Wagner. “I can honestly say that seeing and experiencing The Spirit in my formative years ultimately led to my career as a comics author. It’s such an immense thrill and a professional honor to have the chance to contribute to Will Eisner’s legacy on the milestone 75th anniversary of his most influential and iconic character.”

• Joining the wave of female led titles that is changing the ace of the industry, in May Swords of Sorrow is a giant crossover event featuring Red Sonja, Vampirella, Dejah Thoris with an all-female writing team led by Gail Simone. The event kicks off with a Swords of Sorrow series by Simone, Swords of Sorrow: Vampirella / Jennifer Blood miniseries written by Nancy A. Collins (Vampirella, Swamp Thing); Swords of Sorrow: Chaos special by Mairghread Scott (Transformers: Windblade); and the Swords of Sorrow: Masquerade / Katospecial by G. Willow Wilson (Ms. Marvel) and Erica Schultz (M3). In later months, more projects by Leah Moore, Marguerite Bennett, Emma Beeby, and Mikki Kendal will debut. That’s a lot of female writers!

In keeping with the theme, variant cover artists include a main cover byJ. Scott Campbell (Danger Girl); variants by Jenny Frison, Emanuela Lupacchino; a subscription edition by Robert Hack available to fans placing preorders with their local retailers; and incentive editions by Joyce Chin, Tula Lotay, Nei Ruffino, Cedric Poulat.  Swords of Sorrow: Vampirella / Jennifer Blood #1 and the Swords of Sorrow: Masquerade / Kato special both feature covers by Billy Tan, while the Swords of Sorrow: Chaos special spotlights Joyce Chin.

Gail Simone, who has been planning the project since her involvement was announced in July, says, “Here’s the thing: I love pulp adventure, always have. But as male-dominated as comics have often been, the pulp adventure world seems to be even more so.  Most of the big name stars and creators are dudes, and that’s fine, it’s great. But it hit me… what if that wasn’t the case? What if adventure pulps had also been written with female readers in mind, and awesome female characters in the spotlight? That’s the scenario we are imagining, and it’s just been a blast. The key players are Red Sonja, Vampirella, and Dejah Thoris, but it’s such an epic-spanning, world-hopping event that we also have Kato, Jungle Girl, Lady Rawhide, Jennifer Blood, and so many more. It’s the crossover I dreamed of when I was a kid, and now we get to make it happen.”

Simone’s core Swords of Sorrow story serves as the starting point for a new universe of pulp adventure. Illustrated by Sergio Davila (Legenderry: A Steampunk Adventure), the series features the supernatural heroine Vampirella, Martian princess Dejah Thoris, crimson-tressed swordswoman Red Sonja, martial artist Kato (from filmmaker Kevin Smith’s reboot of The Green Hornet), primal warrior Jungle Girl, and many more. Drawn from a dozen worlds and eras to face off against a legendary evil that threatens their homelands, Dynamite’s fiercest females must overcome their differences to harness the power of mystical blades — the eponymous Swords of Sorrow — in final conflict.

Gail Simone also serves as the architect for all storylines tied into the event, providing direction to her personally selected team of writers. “We got the best writers around, gave them a fun combination of characters and just let them go wild,” says Simone. “It’s creators like G. Willow Wilson, Marguerite Bennett, Nancy A. Collins and more, with book titles like Vampirella vs. Jennifer Blood, Kato vs. Masquerade, and Red Sonja vs. Jungle Girl. More about these tag teams will be coming soon, but it’s just a ridiculous amount of fun to set these characters against each other, and I’m very proud of the astounding team of writers, who I hand-picked from among the very best of new female adventure writers. There’s never been a crossover event in comics like this, ever.”

• Finally, Dynamite has entered into a partnership with The Brewing Factory, the merchandise development company founded by former DC vp Georg Brewer. The line debuts with Women of Dynamite, a line of female figures including Vampirella designed by Jason Smith and based on the artwork of J. Scott Campbell), set for June release.

“I’ve been really fortunate to work on some great projects these last few years, but my first love will always be comics,” says Georg Brewer. “Working with Nick and Joe at Dynamite, and their talented comics creators, has been a blast! It’s certainly been a fantastic way for me to get back to where it all started, and along with sculptor Jason Smith, we are creating an amazing line of statues.”

”We are extremely fortunate to work with someone of Georg’s knowledge, skill, experience, and sterling reputation,” says Nick Barrucci, CEO and Publisher ofDynamite Entertainment. “His passion and expertise in the development and manufacturing of cool fan collectibles is second to none, and our being able to work with Georg is going to help bring fans additional great product lines featuring Dynamite’s extensive library of characters. The debut product line resulting from our creative partnership will be Women of Dynamite statues inspired by J. Scott Campbell artwork, and from there, we will continue to delve into our expansive library of intellectual properties.”

Whew!

By David Nieves
One of Marvel’s top cheeses…no not Mickey, the other one Joe Quesada, got together with two of the company’s best architects; Mark Waid and Dan Slott to remind everyone that this Comic-Con is also Marvel’s 75th anniversary. This panel was officially titled “Marvel Comics’ 75th & Daredevil’s 50th” because the guy who titles panels for Marvel was on vacation.

Waid started by talking about the origins of Marvel Comics and the story of Martin Goodman. Inspired by the success of Action Comics a year before, Goodman published Marvel Comics 1 with Stan Lee as an editor at the time. After the decline of superheroes, Goodman continued to venture into lots of different genres. Quesada asked if it was fair to say Goodman was an “advantageous” publisher?

That’s probably the definition of advantageous, Joe. We’ll let it slide because you had that phenomenal run on just about everything.

Waid then talked about Lee being burnt out in the comic book business. That’s when his wife, Joanie, advised him to take one last shot, but to do it the way he wanted to do it. Along side the godfather of comic book art, Jack Kirby, this last try would become Fantastic Four and the rest is make my Marvel history.

Waid brought up the question of first reading Marvel experience to the panelists. Quesada talked about it being the anti-drug issues of Amazing Spider-Man 96-97.  “I never did drugs, but I got addicted to comics. Which may have cost me more money in the long run,” said Quesada.

Quesada talked about the difference between Marvel and DC characters. He feels that DC Comics tend to be lots of Clark Kent is a mask while Superman is the real identity. He credited Stan Lee with switching that around and making guys like Matt Murdock and Peter Parker what the story was about. He related it more to real life; in it being that we all have to put on masks to be someone else instead of them disguising who we really are.

The group turned the attention to Daredevil and discussed the work of character co-creator Bill Everett. He noted the character was one of the few to come fully formed, except for the costume. Quesada joked about the original color scheme being “court jester-ish.’ Quesada talked about his work on the character:  “there’s something beautifully heroic and tragic about the character, and the fact that his powers, while they were somewhat super, you could also probably just explain them away with a person who can hone their own human abilities to utter perfection, if you really wanted to explain them that way. Something about that I really gravitated towards.” He praised the all-star list of creators that have had runs with the character like Frank Miller, Kevin Smith, Bendis, and Brubaker.

Just by mentioning his name, Waid had us all voluntarily clapping for his current Daredevil artist Chris Samnee. He joked about how they’re never leaving the book. Personally, I hope they never do leave the book because Samnee is the best artist of his generation. But I also think that if Waid was ever made king of some land, he’d have a giant drawing of himself by Samnee hanging over the fire place of his presidential moon palace.

Slott then talked about what he loves about Daredevil, “everything about him is really messed-up.” Even joked about Waid’s Daredevil being happy but still messed-up.

The fan Q&A started.
First up was the subject of how the movies have affected the comic books. Waid talked about how he meets many female fans that came to comics through the 90′s X-Men cartoons. He credited Quesada with never pushing the books to be like the movies and realizing that the comics are what drive everything.

The group was asked what they’d be like if they met Steve Ditko. Slot was the only one who ever met him, he did so while working a job at the Marvel office. His face when he answered the question probably looked a lot like the face of excitement he had when actually meeting Ditko.

Netflix Daredevil details were asked, specifically if Power Man and Iron Fist would be partners. While it’s still too early to talk about anything, Quesada did say the plan is to lead to a Defenders series.

Another fan asked if Slott would do something similar to what JMS did on Amazing Spider-Man 36 with the new World Trade Center opening. Slott said he’d be afraid of doing it but thought it was a great idea.

The legacy of Jim Steranko was brought up to the panelists. Waid talked about not knowing of anyone else that had more influence in comics with that small a body of work.” Quesada chimed in saying that, in person,  the man lives up to the legend. At this point I realized I missed the Steranko panel, D’oh!

Q&A closed with the final question being about if Marvel was making the Daredevil series to combat the negative reaction given to the 2003 Ben Affleck film. Quesada sharply intervened saying, “Marvel didn’t make that movie. This is our take on Marvel’s making Daredevil. That’s the only way we’re looking at it.”

The three thanked the crowd for their passion and devotion to the house of ideas and the panel closed. But I’d just like to say Dan Slott is the nicest guy in comics and he can kill however many Spider-people he wants to.

Boom Studios is avoiding the San Diego news crush and doing a Dynamite by making their announcements one a day until San Diego. And the first is that Mark Waid, former editor-in-chief at Boom and author of some of their most important creator driven titles, is coming back with a new series. According to the video above it’s “one with a dear friend of mine, one of the most revered artists in comics” an artist he’s wanted to work with for a while. It’s a story that is “Dangerous” and not something another company would touch.

I’m told that the reason Paul Levitz joined the board at Boom was to help them get their creator-owned contract in order, and it seems to be in good shape now, such that Waid is back, and new books like The Woods have successfully launched, and much more is happening. What was that I was just saying about “More to come?”

It seems there are still a few stories that haven’t been told in the Marvel Universe, and one of them is the tale of Matt Murdock’s mother—introduced as Sister Maggie in the Frank Miller/David Mazzucchelli run. Although we know she abandoned Matt after his birth and turned to the church, it hasn’t been revealed why. And where better than an ORIGINAL SIN tie-in by Mark Waid and Javier Rodriguez! Cover by Chris Samnee.

What is the dark secret that tore apart the Murdock family? How did Matt’s mother become Sister Maggie? Matt Murdock’s journey to the truth begins as Original Sin opens the Man Without Fear’s eyes this July in DAREDEVIL #6!

In original Marvel continuity, his mother died when he was but a child. In the Miller/ Mazzucchelli “Born Again” run, we learned she had become a nun but the story behind his birth was never revealed.

By Matt O’Keefe

Over ten years in the making, Mark Waid and Barry Kitson’s Empire is finally back. Volume 2 just debuted as on Thrillbent as a comic. I spoke to Mark about transitioning the series and updates on Thrillbent’s iOS app and new subscription model service.

Can you describe Empire for those who haven’t read it?
Empire is the story of what happens when a bad guy wins. Empire is the story of Golgoth, an armored despot who has supreme power and had a ten year plan to take over and earth and rule it in totality, and in eight years he knew two things for certain. One was that he was going to win and the other was that he didn’t want the job anymore because once he assimilates all the power onto one throne that makes him the target. That makes the throne the most deadly place in the world.

Golgoth is ruler of all he surveys, and there’s no opposition. There is no Justice League or Avengers to topple his rule. He’s won flat-out, but the question now is what happens next. What do you for an encore once you’re conquered the world?

What drove you to continue a print series as part of Thrillbent instead of create a new concept?
Ever since Barry Kitson and I did the original Empire back in the early-2000s we’ve wanted to do a sequel, but we had to wait until the right time when we were both available, and after we reclaimed the rights from DC. Now that we have it back, we’re full steam ahead. The reason we’re going to Thrillbent is because I own it, and as a publishing platform it was the perfect place for us. When you couple that with us rebranding Thrillbent as a premium subscription service for creator-owned books, Empire was a no-brainer as a flagship, because every store signing, every convention I’m asked when will more Empire come out. Well that day is tomorrow.

Is Empire Volume 2 in the Thrillbent format?
Yeah. It’s taking advantage of everything Thrillbent can do on a digital platform.

Had you started scripting it in traditional comics format?
No. We had a bunch of notes we had a bunch of ideas half-written ideas and half-written emails and notes written on napkins but really it wasn’t until we reclaimed the rights that we got very serious about it. Thankfully it was very easy to step back into that world which bodes well for us.

How has a comics veteran like Barry Kitson transitioned to the new format?
Very well. By his own admission he was nervous about it but Barry is a very, very smart man and he’s a brilliant storyteller so it really wasn’t much of a challenge for him at all. He got it right off the bat and he’s adapting very well to what digital can do and bringing a surprise to every page turn.

And Troy Peteri is lettering the book?
Yep. And Chris Sotomayor, who colored the original Empire, is back on board to join us with this.

Troy Peteri letters a big portion of the Thrillbent line. Has that that consistency helped the comics-making process?
Yeah he’s an invaluable part of the Thrillbent team. It’s not just that he gives us consistency, it’s that he understands every part of the process and he understands what digital can do. He’s not just treating it like a side job and instead treating it like a vocation and I’m thrilled about that.

Is Empire Volume 2 a finite story?
Yes, but not a short one. At least as long as Volume 1. You can certainly pick up Volume 2 without reading Volume 1 if you’re so inclined because we recap in those first few pages. But if you want to delve into volume 1 which is out-of-print and not easily accessible, when you subscribe to Thrillbent we are throwing in the Volume 1 192-page edition as well.

Why did you decide to stop offering downloads on Thrillbent?
We actually had been offering the files as downloads on the site and we were doing that specifically because we were building an audience. The reason we were offering the files as downloads was because people were going to pirate and share them anyway so we figured we may as well give them a quality copy that had our names on it. We did that for a few years and that served its purpose in getting the word out, but we’re moving into a new phase.

I’ll be brutally honest with you. We’re at a point that if we want to keep doing what we’re doing and keep pushing forward like we have been and keep producing new material that is going to attract an increasingly sizeable audience, we need to create a mechanism by which we can sell people early access to material that will eventually be free on the site–the Hulu/Hulu Plus model, if you will. That said, we’re bending over backward to give you way, way, way more in value than we are asking for in compensation. Even if you’re reading Empire and nothing else on Thrillbent you’re getting $3.99 worth of content every month. If you add to the other Thrillbent series you have access to, and our 300+ comic back catalogue, and the free 192-page Empire graphic novel, I think your $3.99 is well-spent.

What’s surprised you about the response to the Thrillbent app?
That people are embracing it like you wouldn’t believe. I was nervous that people would look at this and go, “Oh wait, you’re charging now? Well then i’m not interested” and certainly that made me nervous, but what pleasantly surprised me was the number of fans who stepped up and said that they appreciated getting two years worth of content so far and “how can we help you keep delivering that content at a fair price?” That was awesome.

And Insufferable is returning soon?
Yes, Insufferable will be coming back with Volume 3. We haven’t set a date; it will almost certainly be coming out after San Diego at this point. But in the meantime we have James Tynion who has been writing Batman Eternal over at DC writing a new series for us called The House in the Wall which will premiere next month. We have a brand-new series from a fantasy writer named Seanan McGuire. She’s terrific. She brings a whole new audience to Thrillbent because frankly her fan base is bigger than mine so, Seanan, please come aboard. She’ll be doing new material for us next month as well, and we’ll have many more announcements to roll out over the summer.

You can now read Empire with a subscription on the app or at thrillbent.com.

Over at Thrillbent, the webcomics portal he devised two years ago, Mark Waid has announcedThrillbent 3.0, which includes an iPad app that will allow users to sync their website purchases, see where theyleft off, and other up-to-date functions. In addition to the free comics Thrillbent has always offered, Waid is adding what he calls a “Hulu Plus” level that includes new content for a monthly subscription of $3.99, which is, as Waid points out, is the price of one comic. For this you get:

EMPIRE VOLUME TWO, the long-awaited sequel to the out-of-print graphic novel EMPIRE by myself, Barry Kitson and colorist Chris Sotomayor;

THE HOUSE IN THE WALL, a fantastic horror series by THE EIGHTH SEAL’S James Tynion IV and Noah J. Yuenkel and artist Eryk Donovan;

INSUFFERABLE: HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE, the next series of INSUFFERABLE adventures by myself, Peter Krause, Nolan Woodard and Troy Peteri;

THE BEST THING, an upcoming series by the Hugo- and John W. Campbell-award winning writer Seanan McGuire, whose audience and fan base eclipses my own;

New episodes of THE DAMNATION OF CHARLIE WORMWOOD

More material is rolling out soon. Waid writes:

That’s a lot of new content, and I’ll be blunt—to make sure our artists, colorists and letterers are compensated fairly, and to continue to build a base for other creators to redefine this medium in new and exciting ways, we can’t afford to give it all away for free the same way we’ve been doing. But neither do we want to create an unfair barrier to entry. Ultimately, what we arrived at was this: a monthly subscription model that allows access to all Thrillbent material past and present for the price of one print comic: $3.99.

I’ve already subscribed — and if my invoice number was an indication, so have several other people. $3.99 is a low, low price and I want to support the kind of independence and innovation that Thrillbent has been exploring. So, yeah, good deal.

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Straight from the offices of Publishers Weekly, it’s More to Come! Your podcast source of comics news and discussion starring The Beat’s own Heidi MacDonald.

In this week’s episode, Heidi and the rest of the More to Come Crew – Calvin Reid and Kate Fitzsimons – discuss Batwoman, J. H. Williams III, W. Haden Blackman and DC’s editorial interference issues, the revived Penny Arcade “Dickwolves” controversy and ramifications for PAX, iFanboy stops operations, Mark Waid turns print comics retailer, Heidi MacDonald gives a talk about less known influential graphic novels at the Library of Congress and much more in this podcast from PW Comics World.

Now tune in Saturdays for our regularly scheduled podcast!

Catch up with our previous podcasts or subscribe to More To Come on iTunes

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A panel on Friday, March 29^th, the first day of programming at WonderCon brought together a rather iconic cast to discuss “iconic characters” and what keeps a character “true” to their origins over long periods of time. Mark Waid opened as moderator by pointing out that the table full of seasoned pros had more than 125 years of comics experience between them and most had worked on longterm characters and newer creations alike. The essential question posed by Waid was how to “vault” characters “into the 21^st century without losing what keeps them special”. The question seemed particularly pertinent to Waid, whose ongoing work on DAREDEVIL has evoked critical acclaim. Waid asked his panellists how they handle the “core elements of characters” to face this challenge.

J. M. De Matteis introduced an image that stayed with the panellists as a reference point for discussion. He felt that creators handling long-lived characters work “within a cage”, so they can’t “go wide” with the character in term of change, but they can “go deep” in terms of making new discoveries. For De Matteis, personally, it’s all about the “Big Why” of characters, figuring out what makes them tick. He prefers working with super-villains to pose questions about the formative impact of their past histories because there’s “always a little corner of the psyche to dig into”. Ann Nocenti, however, in her recent work with Catwoman found that “her archetype was pretty clear” as a troubled kid originally, “on the streets” originally, and moving through “foster homes”. Her intuitive approach is to “play with a character and see what feels right” and she doesn’t mind the fact that later creators will do the same with long-term characters. It’s “like treading water”, she said, “You give a sense of constant, dynamic action, but you’re really not moving far”, and she expects later creators to be under the same constraint.

Doug Mahnke’s challenges, as an artist working on long-term heroes, is rather specific, handling costumes and their overtones. He observed that heroes, even today, often don’t look “contemporary” because their appearance has become iconic and we no longer question the anachronism, like Superman’s “underwear outside his pants”. Other features like capes and boots, Mahnke said, “made sense at the time” they were created based on a “swashbuckling” influence. In fact, he explained, an artist’s job is to “bring out the majesty in the character. It doesn’t matter so much what they’re wearing”, but you can use costume as a “tool” to use to your advantage.

Several of the panellists then commented on the fact that objectively, some of the nomenclature and costumes of characters created decades ago would seem “stupid” now. Nocenti’s example was a resurrection of a minor character, Zebra Man who was “visually fantastic” but the name and concept bizarre. Slott felt that once an icon is an icon, “the fact that it’s an icon gives it weight”, preventing further critique from readers. Even Waid’s considered opinion was that “Green Lantern” is a “stupid name for a character, but after 75 years”, it has “gravitas”.

The panel then tackled the question of when and how exactly a character becomes officially iconic, and they set the bar high on awarding this status. De Matteis opined that “nothing about the character idea makes it iconic. It’s the execution”, and not every character reaches this status despite reasonably strong storytelling behind them. Dan Slott interjected that it only takes “one writer and one artist to do it”, like Frank Miller on DAREDEVIL. The discussion often drifted into slap-stick commentary on the more absurd aspects of superhero lore like the possession of a super vehicle as an icon accoutrement. Nocenti provided the little known detail that Cat Woman’s car is known as a “Catillac”. Slott confessed to proposing in a “meeting with real adults” that Superman’s car should be known as “Superman’s Ford Taurus of Solitude” with disasterous results.

Waid observed that some characters are iconic in pop culture without necessarily being long-lived, like Woody Woodpecker, who’s highly recognizable, but not a currently active character. Waid commented that the tendency toward merchandizing may encourage the slow-down or freeze of new developments in a character since “every character becomes a beach towel” in the end. The entire panel segued into a long and fairly serious discussion of Wonder Woman as a character and why she has, or has not, lived up to her iconic status in terms of actual comic storytelling.

Most felt, like De Matteis, that Wonder Woman comics have not always been “all that good”, nevertheless the character definitely qualifies as “iconic”. Waid had a fairly idiosyncratic theory behind why this is the case. He observed that there was a strong “sexual element” to the “first 10 years of the strip” that was later removed to render the character more “plain vanilla”, and that now, lacking that “x-factor of sexuality”, stories fail to live up to the early days (an issue, he said, he frequently discusses with Grant Morrison). Slott disagreed pointedly with Waid’s assessment. He instead blames the lack of verve in Wonder Woman comics to the fact that comics are essentially a “make dominated industry” that has not explored the “many angles of the character” sufficiently. Slott still feels that if the right team is put together, the stories can rise to iconic status again, without recourse to the “weird quirky bits”. His choice of phrase caused plenty of giggling among the panellists.

This led Waid to ask his panel how they decide what elements are most essential to a character, what continues to translate, and what can be left behind. De Matteis advised to “always approach the characters psychologically and emotionally” and not worry too much about the “other stuff”, and sometimes that psychological appeal can be found in lesser known characters. Nocenti commented that her current work on KATANA based on the strange but intriguing concept of a “girl with a sword” produced “good potential” for developing “obsessional love triangle” elements between herself, her murdered husband, and his murdering brother.“The less iconic a character, the more fun you can have!”, she enthused.

Slott agreed with Nocenti on  this idea, up to a point. When you’re handling an iconic character, readers lose the fear that their reckless lifestyles will do them in, whereas if a character is “unknown”, “Everyone is worried”, wondering if they will survive from issue to issue. Slott and Nocenti shared an interesting moment of commiseration, albeit brief, about their mutual killing off of Spider-based characters, and the emotional reaction of fans. “Screw letters from emotional fans”, Slott concluded, laughing, but Waid intervened by informing the audience that he’s sure Slott “weeps himself to sleep at night with 6 year olds’ fan mail” over the death of Spider-Man .

The panellists didn’t always find their subject matter easy to decipher, nor did they feel that there’s always an easy answer for why some characters “click” as icons and some don’t. Batman, particularly, has a mysteriously successful dynamic, they said. But some things do change. Waid observed that he “couldn’t have imagined a world where I walked down the street and everyone knew who Tony Stark was” until after the Iron Man films had been made. Waid suggested that iconic status for characters might be measured in the number of imitators who have sprung up. De Matteis returned to his general position that archetypal patterns determine iconic status, however. Slott provided examples, stating that Superman is like Hercules, Batman a being on a vengeance-quest, and Tony Stark is, too, iconic in formula, as a combination of “Man and Machine”, an icon that the world is ripe for right now.

The panellists’ parting thoughts during the Q and A period focused on an interesting point made from the audience about the superhero/villain ratio. With so many more supervillains than superheroes in comics, “recycling” them is the norm, but at what point do they become “stale” and need to be retired, at least for awhile? De Matteis was firm about the roles of the artist and writers, insisting that there are “no stale characters but stale interpretations of characters” and that good work will prevent this problem. “Every character is great if you did into them in the right way”, he said. Waid’s closing example to support De Matteis’ point was that “20-25 years ago, no one would have thought that GREEN ARROW would become 2 times the best selling DC book, and then get his own TV show”. His bottom line: “If you dig deep enough you can find something that resonates”, and that’s the key to creating an icon, something that may not happen overnight.

 Photo Credits: All photos in this article were taken by semi-professional photographer and pop culture scholar Michele Brittany. She’s an avid photographer of pop culture events. You can learn more about her photography and pop culture scholarship here.

Hannah Means-Shannon writes and blogs about comics for TRIP CITY and Sequart.org and is currently working on books about Neil Gaiman and Alan Moore for Sequart. She is @hannahmenzies on Twitter and hannahmenziesblog on WordPress.

This homage to Wally Wood’s 22 Panels That ALWAYS Work by Mark Waid and Jeremy Rock at The Gutters nails quite a few good ones. Go to the link for the other four—oh and a snark about a DC executive. CAN U GUESS WHO?

By Steve Morris

Continuing Mark Waid’s seeming obsession with the in- prefix, Marvel’s third of what will presumably be five teasers revealing their upcoming ‘Marvel NOW!’ books has been revealed. He’ll be teaming up this November with artist Leinil Francis Yu, for what is likely to be a new Incredible Hulk relaunch. The news comes from CBR, which means we have to put up with that little obnoxious ‘CBR exclusive!’ tag which we all hate so well.

This is the third Avenger to be given a relaunched solo series after AvX concludes, following the apparent Thor and Iron Man creative teams announced earlier this week. Hulk only relaunched itself recently, with Jason Aaron trying out a new run which saw Banner as the monster and Hulk as the desperate hero. Which, well, that’s had mixed reviews. Next time’s the charm?

Oh, and if the Marvel NOW! promotional image from Joe Quesada is any indication… Hulk’s going to be wearing some armour. No sign of She-Hulk Jennifer Walters yet, but rest assured that I’ll leap onto the internet, keyboard blazing, as soon as there is even the barest indication that she might show up somewhere.

by Alexander Añé

One of the hot topics in the comics industry is the movement into the digital medium, and of course the biggest question in that migration is, “what’s it going to cost?” Sunday afternoon at San Diego Comic-Con, the leading voices in this debate came together to discuss this topic: Mark Waid representing Thrillbent, Scott Kurtz the creator of PvP, IDW Publishing’s ePublishing director Jeff Webber, Chris Ross attending as Top Shelf’s director of digital publications, and moderating the panel is comiXology’s Chip Mosher.Mark Waid was a little late showing up, having just won three Eisner Awards the evening before, and after introducing the panel Chip asked the panelists, “what is the ideal price for digital comics and why?”

The line of responses started with Mark Waid, and he suggested, “99 cents… because 99 cents is the point at which even the most casual readers will drop 99 cents will try something they have not tried before. 99 cents is the price you’d pay on an app from the app store… We’re not competing with other comics and we’re not competing with print comics, we’re competing with other things that cost 99 cents.”

Jeff Webber suggested that, “there’s not one price,” following up by suggesting a staggered price system based on date of release, starting from full cover price and lowering after periods of time with the inclusion of discounts; citing that IDW’s best selling digital items at the, “highest price up… except when we do a 99 cent sale.”

Scott Kurtz focused on the question, “Is this digital market the first or secondary market for this content?” His belief is that depending on the use of the digital market, should influence the price, whereas first market should be 99 cents and secondary should be free; especially in regard to marketing, “it should be zero or very little.”

Chris Ross narrowed the question to specifically what sort of comics should be priced and in which way, “Top Shelf publishes big, huge books, it doesn’t make sense to price those 99 cents.” He explained that Top Shelf’s strategy is to price their digital books to help supplement physical books and in a way that encourages readers to invest in physical copies. Mark Waid followed up with the price point concept by suggesting the question, “My motto at Thrillbent is more, ‘I want to charge 99 cents for this, then how much can I give you?’”

Chip Mosher then posed the question, “Don’t you think the 99 price point discussion is really about having people discover more comics, making them accessible, cheaper?” Chris Ross replied “I think the one thing we keep coming to as far as the 99 cents, is Angry Birds. That’s the thing that said you can get hours and hours of entertainment for only a dollar. So when you purchase a comic or you purchase a graphic novel, if it’s anything that takes you an hour or two, you feel that if you pay $4 for it you just got screwed.”

Scott Kurtz replied by saying, “It’s scary to spend 5 bucks to ‘rent’ a comic,” and continued on how paying a full price becomes an obstacle to draw in new readers and how portals or a

This webcomics thing is heating up!

Actually, what’s heating up is that a new population of webcomics immigrants is moving to this new land and trying to learn the customs and shortcuts of the new society. And the natives—creators who came of age with the web as their native platform—are probably rolling their eyes and going on with business.

¶ Warren Ellis muses on the two-tier format that the immigrants are adapting:

What else do we notice about these three screens?  Two-tier storytelling.  Isn’t it strange how all three teams have gone to two-tier, independent of each other?

Maybe not.  You’ve cut the print page in half.  If you want each screen to make sense as a discrete entity, you have to respect the cut.  If you want each screen to contain enough information to make it worth reading, you need a strategy to maximise your panelling.  And if you want to be able to stretch out and get a big picture in there while still maintaining storytelling coherency, you’ve kind of got to go wide on the page.

When reading a traditional comic, the eye cannot help taking in the whole page at once. The digital format and the pace of the Infinite Comic can lead to more surprises. As each successive panel appears on the screen, each tap or click can reveal a new caption, subtly change an illustration or replace it entirely. Focusing and blurring effects can heighten the reading experience or simply allow one to appreciate the artwork, which is richer and more vibrantly colored than the printed page.

Mr. Waid, a celebrated writer for Marvel, DC Comics and small publishers, noted that there were compromises in making digital comics. The Web may be infinite, but the borders of monitors, tablets and smartphone screens are not. Even on an iPad, the “canvas” is about 20 percent smaller than the standard comic book page. But “the trade-off is international distribution,” Mr. Waid said, “as opposed to having to rely on niche hobby shops scattered across the nation.”

DAREDEVIL continues to be the superhero book that proves that “nice art” can be better than “house style” as Mike Allred takes over for an issue. Mark Waid continues to write.

Allred takes over for regular artist Chris Samnee and teams with writer Mark Waid for one issue, Daredevil issue 17, which comes out in August and will feature Allred’s distinctive pop-art style.
The issue will be a part of “the ongoing Daredevil soap opera,” editor Stephen Wacker says, but also stand on its own. “It’s part madcap, but also a very personal story

After three years in top management positions, Mark Waid is leaving his current position as COO at BOOM! Studios to go back to freelancing

Waid spoke exclusively to CBR with his usual candor

Largely, but not completely [i did what I set out to do]. I certainly helped establish a voice and, I’d like to think, a creative ethic for the company; mission accomplished there. But initially, I’d envisioned myself acquiring more original content to be published through BOOM! and wasn’t as successful as I’d wished I’d been in finding breakout hits that could withstand the harsh realities of the modern comics-shop marketplace during the most catastrophic recession since the Great Depression. Don’t get me wrong; I’m very proud of the BOOM KIDS! line and could go on at length about the regular BOOM! imprint books that deserve more praise, but I wish I’d been able to bring out more of the great original material I loved like William Messner-Loebs’ overlooked “Necronomicon.” But maybe that time will come again for BOOM!, and in the meantime, the new material we do have coming up in 2011 looks very strong to me. Rating myself, can I give myself an overall B+? Is that too arrogant? Do I at least get credit for teaching the staff that “alright” isn’t a real word and how to use an ellipsis?

But – but – no matter how I approach digital as a creator, no matter what I do, as long as I’m vocal, there will always be a small contingent of retailers who I’ll irritate, who see digital 100% as a direct attack on their livelihoods and guys vouching for it, like me, as an enemy. That’s unfortunate, but it’s understandable. I get that. I really do. 

But when they feel that way that strongly, that’s one of those times when being BOOM!’s most visible spokeperson is a handicap. As CCO, I have to give enormous weight to my company’s relationship with our retail partners. On the other hand, as a freelancer, I don’t have to weigh the fate of our 25 employees every time someone sticks a microphone in my face, which gets wearying. To sum up, I’m more passionate with each passing day about digital, but if there’re blowback from the path I’m on, then let it fall on my head, not BOOM!’s.